1.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
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Lady of Elche
Spain
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Flag
Spain
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Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
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Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
2.
Carmen Maura
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Carmen García Maura is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, Maura is best known for her collaborations with noted Spanish film directors Pedro Almodóvar, Maura was born in Madrid to Salvador Garcia Santa-Cruz and Carmen Maura Arenzana. Her great-grandfather was the Count of Fuente Nueva de Arenzana, who lived in the Palace of Arenzana in Madrid, currently the embassy of France. Her other great grandfather from her mother´s side was the artist Bartolome Maura Montaner, brother of Antonio Maura, a prime minister of Spain on five occasions. Maura studied philosophy and literature at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, from 1964 to 1970, she was married to a lawyer, Francisco Forteza, with whom she has two children, Carmen and Pablo. Maura began her career as a cabaret singer, Mauras film career was launched in 1970 with an appearance in the film The Man in Hiding. This was followed by a role in the 1977 film Tigres de papel. Although Maura has played roles, she is often noted for her comedic roles in films like Sal gorda. Maura appeared in the first film by Pedro Almodóvar, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón, Maura and Almodóvar appeared to have had a falling out after Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. They did not work together for over a decade, but joined forces again in 2006 for Volver, Volver means Return in Spanish, and one of the many returns the title alludes to is Mauras return to Almodovars movies. The female cast of Volver won a prize for Best Actress at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Maura also appeared in 800 Bullets where she played the mother of the boy who is the character of the story. Maura is cited as a gay icon for the role of a transsexual she played in Almodóvars Law of Desire, Maura has won more Goya Awards for Best Leading Actress than any other actress in the history of Spanish film. She won the Locarno Excellence Award in 2007 for all her cinematographic career, Maura has worked under the orders of major directors like Almodovar, Ford Coppola, Amos Gitai, Yasmina Reza, Alejandro Agresti, Carlos Saura, Étienne Chatiliez and Alex de la Iglesia. Mi blanca Varsovia Whats a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This, menos mi madre y mi hermana 1980 Gary Cooper, que estás en los cielos. El hombre de moda Pepi, Luci, Bom 1982 - Femenino singular 1983 El Cid cabreador Dark Habits, with Marisa Paredes, Chus Lampreave and Julieta Serrano. 1984 What Have I Done to Deserve This, with Ángel de Andrés López, Kiti Manver and Chus Lampreave. Sal gorda 1985 Sé infiel y no mires con quién, with Ana Belén, Santiago Ramos, Antonio Resines, Verónica Forqué and Chus Lampreave
Carmen Maura
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Carmen Maura
3.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a 1988 Spanish black comedy-drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The actual Spanish title refers to an ataque de nervios, which is not actually translated as nervous breakdown. Historically, this condition has been associated with hysteria and more recently in the literature with post-traumatic stress. The film plot takes its starting point from the French play The Human Voice by Jean Cocteau where a woman tries to avoid being dumped by her lover through a series of phone calls. In the film TV actress Pepa Marcos is depressed and taking sleeping pills because her boyfriend Iván has just left her, both she and Iván work as voice-over actors who dub foreign films, notably Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden. The voice he uses to sweet-talk her is the one he uses in his work. He is about to leave on a trip and has asked Pepa to pack his things in a suitcase that he pick up later. Pepa returns home later to find her answering machine filled with messages from her friend. In anger, she rips out the phone and throws it through the window onto the balcony, Candela arrives, still overwhelmed, but before she can explain her situation, Carlos, Iváns son with previous lover Lucía, arrives with his snobby fiancée, Marisa. It turns out they are apartment-hunting, and by coincidence have chosen Pepas penthouse to look at. Carlos and Pepa figure out each others relationship to Iván, Pepa wants to know where Iván is because she has to tell him something, Candela unsuccessfully attempts to kill herself by jumping off the balcony. Meanwhile, Marisa has become bored and decides to drink some gazpacho she finds in the fridge, Candela finally gets to explain her situation, a while back she had a love affair with an Arab who later came to visit her, bringing some friends with him. It turns out that they are a Shiite terrorist cell and Candela was unknowingly harboring them in her home, when the terrorists left, Candela fled to Pepas place for help. Candela fears that the police think she is involved and will come for her, Pepa sets out to see a lawyer Carlos has recommended to help Candela, and ends up catching the same cab with the same Mambo-loving driver. However, Paulina, the lawyer she visits, is acting strangely, Pepa sees that Paulina has tickets to Stockholm. Iván calls the office at one point, and Paulina seems to know Pepa, after Carlos fixes the broken phone, he quickly calls the police, but hangs up before they can trace the call, then surprisingly kisses Candela. Pepa returns and Lucía calls, announcing she is coming over to confront her about Iván, Carlos reveals that Lucía has been in a mental hospital since Iván left her and has only now been released. Pepa, now sick of Iván and no longer wanting to see him, heads back down with Iváns suitcase, she throws it out, just barely missing Iván, Pepa returns to her apartment she hears the song from the opening, Soy Infeliz, which Carlos is playing
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
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Theatrical release poster
4.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese
Iceland
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Norsemen Landing in Iceland – a 19th Century depiction by
Oscar Wergeland.
Iceland
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Flag
Iceland
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Ingólfr Arnarson (modern Icelandic: Ingólfur Arnarson), the first permanent Scandinavian settler in Iceland
Iceland
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Ósvör, a replica of an old fishing outpost outside
Bolungarvík
5.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
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The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
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Flag
Italy
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The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
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Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
6.
Ornella Muti
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Ornella Muti is an Italian actress. She was born in Rome as Francesca Romana Rivelli, to a Neapolitan father and Ilse Renata Krause and her maternal grandparents emigrated from Leningrad to Estonia. She has a sister, Claudia. Muti modeled as a teenager and made her debut in 1970 in La moglie più bella. She has primarily worked in Italian films but she made her English-speaking film debut as Princess Aura in Flash Gordon in 1980. American movies she appeared in include Love and Money, Casanova, Wait Until Spring, Bandini, A Season of Giants, Oscar, Once Upon a Crime, Somewhere in the City and To Rome with Love. She is mostly known to the French for appearing in a commercial of Giovanni Panzani pasta. She was voted The Most Beautiful Woman in the World in 1994 by a poll of readers of the magazine Class. In 2008, Muti introduced her own line of jewellery and she opened new shops in Paris, Milan, Rome, Riga, Moscow and Almaty. She reportedly insured her breasts for $350,000, Muti has been married twice, first to Alessio Orano, from 1975–81. She was married, secondly, to Federico Facchinetti, from 1988 to 1996, Muti has three children, Naike Rivelli, a fashion model, singer, and actress, a son, Andrea, and a second daughter, Carolina, both from her marriage to Facchinetti
Ornella Muti
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Ornella Muti at the
2000 Cannes Film Festival
7.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
Republic of Ireland
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The
Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891).
Republic of Ireland
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Flag
Republic of Ireland
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In 1922 a new parliament called the
Oireachtas was established, of which
Dáil Éireann became the
lower house.
Republic of Ireland
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Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)
8.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
United Kingdom
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Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
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Flag
United Kingdom
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The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
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The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
9.
High Hopes (1988 film)
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High Hopes is a 1988 film directed by Mike Leigh, focusing on an extended working-class family living in Kings Cross, London and elsewhere. The film primarily examines Cyril and Shirley, a courier and his girlfriend, along with their friends, neighbours. Despite staying true to Leighs down-at-the-heel, realist style, the film is ultimately a social comedy concerning culture clashes between different classes and belief systems, according to the critic Michael Coveney, As in Meantime, High Hopes contrasts the economic and spiritual conditions of siblings. And in developing some of the themes in Babies Grow Old and Grown-Ups, it presents a brilliantly organised dramatic résumé of attitudes towards parturition, Cyril and Shirley are portrayed as the most decent characters in the film, despite Cyrils irascible nature. Theirs is a relationship, marred by Cyrils reluctance to have children
High Hopes (1988 film)
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High Hopes
10.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
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One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
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Flag
France
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The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
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With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
11.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered with Italy to the west, Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east and Albania and Greece to the south. In addition, it included two autonomous provinces within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina, the SFRY traces back to 29 June 1943 when the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II. On 29 November 1945, the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed after the deposal of King Peter II thus ending the monarchy. Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. This led to the federation collapsing along the borders, followed by the final downfall and breakup of the federation on 27 April 1992. The term former Yugoslavia is now commonly used retrospectively, the name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made-up of jug and slavija. The Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian word jug means south, while slavija denotes a land of the Slavs, thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be South-Slavia or Land of the South Slavs. The term is intended to denote the lands occupied by the six South Slavic nations, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes, the full official name of the federation varied significantly between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, the name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question open. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced, the state is most commonly referred to by the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though SFR Yugoslavia was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany, by 17 April 1941, Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing liberated territories which attracted the attentions of the occupying forces. The coalition of parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the Peoples Liberation Front. The Front formed a political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the Peoples Liberation of Yugoslavia. The AVNOJ, which met for the first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942, during 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss and Fall Schwartz, the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once, on both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a significant portion of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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U.S.-Yugoslavia summit, 1978
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Flag
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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The parliament building of
Bosnia and Herzegovina burns amid the
Yugoslav wars.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Vukovar water tower during the
Siege of Vukovar. The tower came to symbolize the town's resistance to Serb forces.
12.
East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
East Germany
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GDR leaders: President
Wilhelm Pieck and Prime Minister
Otto Grotewohl, 1949
East Germany
–
Flag (1959–1990)
East Germany
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SED First Secretary,
Walter Ulbricht, 1950
East Germany
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Head of State:
Erich Honecker (1971–89)
13.
Corinna Harfouch
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Corinna Harfouch is a German actress. Harfouch was born in Suhl, Bezirk Suhl, now in Thuringia and she is the daughter of the teacher Wolfgang Meffert and his wife Marianne. Harfouch worked as a nurse and studied acting in Berlin from 1978 to 1981 and her first husband was a Syrian computer scientist named Nabil Harfouch, with whom she has one daughter. In 1985 she married Michael Gwisdek, with whom she has two sons, Johannes and Robert Gwisdek, but she kept the family name of her first husband. In 1994, she was a member of the jury at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival
Corinna Harfouch
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Corinna Harfouch (September 2012)
14.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
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Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
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Flag
Soviet Union
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Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
15.
Little Vera
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Little Vera, produced at the Gorky Film Studio and released in 1988, is a film by Russian film director Vasili Pichul. The title in Russian is ambiguous and can also mean Little Faith, the film was the leader in ticket sales in the Soviet Union in 1988 with 54.9 million viewers, and was the most successful Soviet film in the US since Moscow Does not Believe in Tears. Part of its popularity was due to being one of the first Soviet movies with explicit sexual scenes, the films main character and namesake is a teenage girl, who just having finished school feels trapped in her provincial town. With its pessimistic and cynical view of Soviet society, the film was typical of its time, during many such films. However, the films popularity did not prove long lived, the film received 6 awards and was nominated for 8 more. Among its wins, it received Best Actress for Natalya Negoda at the Nika Awards in 1989, the films director, Vasili Pichul, received the Special Jury Prize at the 1988 Montreal World Film Festival and FIPRESCI Prize at the 1988 Venice Film Festival. The soundtracks main theme consists of two songs performed by Sofia Rotaru Bylo no proshlo and Tolko etogo malo, the leitmotif of the perestroika classic Little Vera. She lives with her mother and her father, Kolya. They wonder why she can’t be more like her brother Victor, at an underground dance party that is broken up by police, she meets Sergei, and they immediately fall in love. It turns out Sergei is an old friend of Victor, who, in town for a visit, Vera and Sergei decide to marry, but her parents object. Vera convinces them to accept the marriage by falsely telling her mother she is pregnant. Sergei’s first meeting with her parents is disastrous, and he leaves with Vera without finishing dinner, the tension between Sergei and Kolya increases and comes to a climax on Kolya’s birthday. Fed up with the drunken Kolya, Sergei locks him in the bathroom, when he is let out of the bathroom, he stabs Sergei in the side with a knife, the wound requiring a long convalescence in the hospital. Vera’s mother tries to convince her to tell the authorities that Sergei accidentally caused the wound to himself, Victor, visiting from Moscow, prescribes tranquilizers to calm the despondent Vera. The family goes to the beach for a picnic, ostensibly to help take Vera’s mind off the situation, Vera believes, however, that it is a ruse to persuade her to lie about the stabbing. A storm suddenly comes up, and as the family prepares to leave, Kolya searches for her and the two are seen embracing on the beach. Vera testifies that her father was not to blame for what happened to Sergei and she visits him in the hospital and explains that the family needed Kolya to survive. Sergei now seems uninterested in her, and tells her to go away, back in her apartment, she finds herself alone and starts drinking and taking the pills
Little Vera
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Promotional film poster
16.
Ay Carmela (film)
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¡Ay Carmela. is a 1990 Spanish comedy-drama film directed by Carlos Saura and based on the eponymous play by José Sanchís Sinisterra. The film was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards, Carmela, Paulino, and Gustavete - who is mute as the result of an explosion - are a trio of travelling vaudeville performers. Amidst the chaos of the Spanish Civil War, they are in the town of Montejo and they are survivors who are motivated, not exactly by patriotism, but by a desire for self-preservation. Their show consists of four acts and it begins with Carmela singing and dancing a traditional song. The audience is enthusiastic during her performance, but the changes completely when the sound of approaching nationalist planes is heard. As the planes fly overhead, Paulino reads a poem by Antonio Machado which introduces a note of patriotic fervour in accordance with republican feeling in 1938. The seriousness of the moment is followed by a routine in which Paulino twists himself into a variety of ridiculous postures in an attempt to break wind. The fourth and final act is a tableau vivant in which Carmela represents justice while Paulino brandishes the republican flag, the dangers and deprivation that they encounter in the republican side encourage the trio to go to Valencia. To obtain gasoline for the trip Carmela has to distract a republican truck driver while Paulino and they make this difficult journey on a misty night and inadvertently end up in nationalist territory. They are detained by a nationalist officer and are incriminated by the flag they carry amongst their props. They are arrested and taken as prisoners to the local school, Carmela befriends a fellow prisoner, a Polish soldier member of the International Brigade and is surprised that he has come to fight in Spain, a foreign land whose name he cannot even pronounce. In an atmosphere of mounting tension and terror, some of the prisoners are away to be shot. Carmela, Paulino and Gustavete are driven away in an army car and they are convinced that they are also going to be killed, but instead they are taken to the local theatre where they meet an Italian officer, Lieutenant Amelio di Ripamonte. Surprisingly, the lieutenant, learning that they are performers, wants them to part in a show he has been planning to entertain the nationalist troops. They must stage a burlesque of the Republic in exchange for their freedom, for the variety show that they are to perform to the nationalists, Paulino rewrites their old script. From the outset, the fiery and patriotic Carmela is defiant and unwilling to go along with it, however, Paulino persuades her that since their lives are at stake she must collaborate in the performance of the now anti-republican numbers. The presence of the Polish prisoners, who have brought to witness a mockery of their ideals, greatly upsets Carmela. Structurally, the show is similar to the one they used to perform for the republican troops
Ay Carmela (film)
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Theatrical release poster
17.
Anne Brochet
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Anne Brochet is a French actress. Brochet has appeared in such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Le temps des porte-plumes,30 ans, Une journée de merde. She has also appeared in episodes of the television show Voici venir lorage. Brochet won a César Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in Tous les matins du monde, Brochet lived with actor Gad Elmaleh from 1998 to 2002. Anne Brochet at the Internet Movie Database
Anne Brochet
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Anne Brochet in 2001
18.
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
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Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play is a fictionalization of his life follows the broad outlines of it. The entire play is written in verse, in rhyming couplets of twelve syllables per line, very close to the classical alexandrine form, but the verses sometimes lack a caesura. It is also researched, down to the names of the members of the Académie française. The play has been translated and performed many times, and is responsible for introducing the word panache into the English language, Cyrano is in fact famed for his panache, and the play ends with him saying My panache just before his death. The two most famous English translations are those by Brian Hooker and Anthony Burgess, hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a cadet in the French Army, is a brash, strong-willed man of many talents. In addition to being a remarkable duelist, he is a gifted, however, he has an extremely large nose, which causes him to doubt himself. The play opens in Paris,1640, in the theatre of the Hôtel Burgundy, members of the audience slowly arrive, representing a cross-section of Parisian society from pickpockets to nobility. Christian de Neuvillette, a new cadet, arrives with Lignière. Lignière recognizes her as Roxane, and tells Christian about her, meanwhile, Ragueneau and Le Bret are expecting Cyrano de Bergerac, who has banished the actor Montfleury from the stage for a month. After Lignière leaves, Christian intercepts a pickpocket and, in return for his freedom, Christian departs to try to warn him. The play Clorise begins with Montfleurys entrance, Cyrano disrupts the play, forces Montfleury off stage, and compensates the manager for the loss of admission fees. Roxanes duenna then arrives, and asks where Roxane may meet Cyrano privately, Lignière is then brought to Cyrano, having learned that one hundred hired thugs are waiting to ambush him on his way home. Cyrano, now emboldened, vows to take on the entire mob single-handed, the next morning, at Ragueneaus bake shop, Ragueneau supervises various apprentice cooks in their preparations. Cyrano arrives, anxious about his meeting with Roxane and he is followed by a musketeer, a paramour of Ragueneaus domineering wife Lise, then the regular gathering of impoverished poets who take advantage of Ragueneaus hospitality. Roxane and Cyrano talk privately as she bandages his hand, she thanks him for defeating Valvert at the theater, and talks about a man with whom she has fallen in love. Cyrano thinks that she is talking about him at first, and is ecstatic, but Roxane describes her beloved as handsome, Roxane fears for Christians safety in the predominantly Gascon company of Cadets, so she asks Cyrano to befriend and protect him. After she leaves, Cyranos captain arrives with the cadets to congratulate him on his victory from the night before and they are followed by a huge crowd, including De Guiche and his entourage, but Cyrano soon drives them away
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
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Cyrano de Bergerac, the man for whom the play is named and upon whose life it is based.
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
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The second-to-last scene. First performance of the play. Published in "l'illustration", 8 January 1898
19.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
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Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
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Flag
Poland
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Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
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Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
20.
Krystyna Janda
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Krystyna Janda is a Polish film and theater actress best known internationally for playing leading roles in several films by Polish director Andrzej Wajda, including Man of Marble and Man of Iron. In 1981, Janda played in the Academy Award winning movie Mephisto, in 1982, she played the lead character in Ryszard Bugajskis film Przesłuchanie, which first premiered 7 years later in 1989, following the collapse of communism. Despite the films release, she garnered international acclaim for her performance, including winning Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1993, she was a member of the jury at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival, Janda is also known for her leading role in the second episode of Dekalog series of Krzysztof Kieślowski. Zbyszka Cybulskiego za najlepszy debiut Srebrny Asteroid za rolę w filmie Piotra Szulkina Golem, na XIX Międzynarodowym Festiwalu Filmów Fantastycznych w Trieście
Krystyna Janda
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Krystyna Janda
21.
Clotilde Courau
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Clotilde of Savoy, Princess of Venice, is an award-winning French actress. She is the wife of Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice, a member of the House of Savoy and the grandson of Umberto II, professionally, she is known by her maiden name. Clotilde Courau was born on 3 April 1969 in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France and she has three sisters named Christine, Camille, and Capucine Courau. Clotilde was brought up in the Roman Catholic religion, in 1991, Courau was nominated for a César, for Most Promising Actress, and won a European Film Award for Best Actress, both for the film Le petit criminel. In 1995, she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti at the SACD Awards and she was nominated again for a César twice in 1996 for Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Actress both for the film Élisa. In 1998 she was named as one of European cinemas Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion and she was also created a Dame of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France on 7 February 2007. She had a role in Deterrence, an American film about nuclear war that marked the directing debut of Rod Lurie. Clotilde Courau announced her engagement on 10 July, and on 25 September 2003 at the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome, she married Emanuele Filiberto, at the ceremony she wore a wedding gown designed by Valentino. Six months pregnant at the time of the wedding, she was seen as a royal bride because of her left-wing views. The couple have two daughters, Princess Vittoria of Savoy, born on 29 December 2003, Princess Luisa of Savoy, born on 16 August 2006. After her marriage Clotilde became Clotilde of Savoy, Princess of Venice, in 2009, her name was given to a rose created by the rose grower Fabien Ducher to mark the 500000th visitor to the Jardins de lImaginaire, Terrasson
Clotilde Courau
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Clotilde, Princess of Venice at the
2010 Cannes Film Festival
22.
Julie Delpy
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Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She has been nominated for three César Awards, two Online Film Critics Society Awards, and two Academy Awards, after moving to the United States in 1990, she became an American citizen in 2001. Julie Delpy was born in Paris to Albert Delpy, a director, and Marie Pillet, an actress in feature films. On the stages of Paris, Delpys parents were involved in underground theatre, at an early age, Julie was exposed to the arts. Delpy has said she has been plagued by problems since childhood and had to wear callipers at age eight. She also occasionally experiences migraines and panic attacks, in 1984, at the age of fourteen, Delpy was discovered by film director Jean-Luc Godard, who cast her in Détective. Two years later, Delpy starred in the role in Bertrand Taverniers La Passion Béatrice. For her performance, Delpy was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress and she used the money she earned to pay for her first trip to New York City. Delpy became a celebrity after starring in the 1990 film Europa Europa directed by Agnieszka Holland. In the film, she plays a young pro-Nazi who falls in love with the hero, Solomon Perel and she did not speak German so she performed her role in English and was later dubbed over. Following the success of Europa Europa, Delpy appeared in several Hollywood and European films, including Voyager, in 1993, she was cast by director Krzysztof Kieślowski to play the female lead in Three Colors, White, the second film of Kieślowskis The Three Colors Trilogy. Delpy also appeared briefly in the two films in the same role. That same year, she appeared opposite Brendan Fraser in the Percy Adlon feature Younger and Younger starring Donald Sutherland, in 1994, she starred opposite Eric Stoltz in Roger Avarys directorial debut Killing Zoe, a cult heist film capturing the Generation X zeitgeist. Delpy is best known for her role with Ethan Hawke in director Richard Linklaters 1995 film Before Sunrise. The film received glowing reviews and was considered one of the most significant films of the 1990s independent film movement and its success led to the casting of Delpy in the 1997 American film An American Werewolf in Paris. In late 2001, she appeared alongside comedian Martin Short in the 30-minute film CinéMagique, CinéMagique won the 2002 Themed Entertainment Association award for outstanding themed attraction. Delpy reprised her Before Sunrise character, Céline, with an animated appearance in Waking Life. The later film was received and earned Delpy, who co-wrote the script
Julie Delpy
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Delpy at the
2002 Cannes Film Festival
Julie Delpy
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Delpy in 1991
Julie Delpy
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Delpy in San Francisco in 2011
23.
Voyager (film)
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Voyager is a 1991 English-language drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff, and starring Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, and Barbara Sukowa. Voyager won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Production, the German Film Award for Shaping of a Feature Film, and the Guild of German Art House Cinemas Award for Best German Film. It was also nominated for three European Film Awards for Best Film, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, as well as a German Film Award for Outstanding Feature Film. In April 1957, engineer Walter Faber is waiting to board a flight from Caracas, Venezuela to New York City when he meets a German, Herbert Hencke, who reminds him of an old friend. Before takeoff, Walter decides not to board the airplane, but when a flight attendant discovers him still in the terminal, during the flight, the airplane develops engine trouble and crash lands in the desert near the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. He also learns that Joachim married Walters former girlfriend Hannah, that they had a child together, after writing a letter to his current married girlfriend, Ivy, ending their relationship, Walter thinks back on his days in Zurich falling in love with Hannah. He remembers proposing marriage to her after she revealed she was pregnant, the passengers and crew are rescued and brought to Mexico City, where Herbert prepares to continue on to see his brother Joachim at his tobacco farm in Guatemala. Walter decides to accompany Herbert to see his old friend again, the journey is long and difficult. When the two arrive at the tobacco farm, they find Joachim has hanged himself. Back in New York City, Walter returns to his apartment and she received Walters letter ending their relationship, but simply does not acknowledge it. Needing to escape, he decides to leave for his Paris business trip a week early, feeling he has started a new life aboard the ship, Walter meets a beautiful young woman, Elisabeth Piper, whom he begins to call Sabeth. They spend time together, playing ping-pong, exploring the ship, on the last night of the voyage, Walter asks her to marry him, but she does not know how to respond, and they part without saying goodbye. In Paris, Walter looks for Sabeth at the Louvre and they reunite and he offers to drive her to Rome, rather than have her hitchhike as shes planned, and she agrees. They drive south through France and stop for the night at a hotel near Avignon, late in the evening, Sabeth comes to Walters room and they make love. They continue on their way through France and Italy, stopping at Florence, at Palatine Hill, Walter is captivated by the sculpture, Head of a Sleeping Girl. Walter learns that Sabeth is the daughter of his girlfriend, Hannah—and possibly his own daughter. He becomes distant and refuses to tell Sabeth of what he suspects, Walter finally reveals to Sabeth that he knew her mother and father in Zurich in the 1930s. Walter and Sabeth make their way to Greece, but Walter is troubled by the possibility that Sabeth may be his daughter and they sleep under the stars on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and at sunrise Walter goes for a swim
Voyager (film)
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Theatrical release poster
24.
Juliette Binoche
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Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 60 feature films, been recipient of international awards. Coming from a background, she began taking acting lessons during adolescence. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, for her performance in Lasse Hallströms romantic comedy Chocolat, Binoche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. During the 2000s she maintained a career, alternating between French and English language roles in both mainstream and art-house productions. In 2010, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostamis Certified Copy making her the first actress to win the European Best Actress Triple Crown. In 2008 she began a tour with a modern dance production in-i devised in collaboration with Akram Khan. Binoche was born in Paris, the daughter of Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and sculptor, and Monique Yvette Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress. Her father, who is French, also has one eighth Portuguese-Brazilian ancestry, juliettes mother was born in Częstochowa, Poland. Binoches maternal grandfather, Andre Stalens, was born in Poland, of Belgian and French descent, both of them were actors who were born in Częstochowa, the German Nazi occupiers imprisoned them at Auschwitz as intellectuals. When Binoches parents divorced in 1968, four-year-old Binoche and her sister Marion were sent to a boarding school. During their teens, the Binoche sisters spent their holidays with their maternal grandmother. Binoche has stated that this perceived parental abandonment had an effect on her. She was not particularly academic and in her years began acting at school in amateur stage-productions. At 17 she directed and starred in a student production of the Eugène Ionesco play and she studied acting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur dArt Dramatique, but quit after a short time as she disliked the curriculum. In the early 1980s, she found an agent through a friend and joined a troupe, touring France, Belgium. Around this time she began lessons with acting coach Vera Gregh, after this Binoche secured her first feature-film appearance with a minor role in Pascal Kanés Liberty Belle. Her role required just two days on–set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film, Binoches early films established her as a French star of some renown
Juliette Binoche
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Binoche in 2015
Juliette Binoche
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Juliette Binoche in 1985.
Juliette Binoche
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Binoche at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Juliette Binoche
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Juliette Binoche and
Jean Reno at
Cannes, 2002
25.
The Lovers on the Bridge
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Les Amants du Pont-Neuf is a 1991 French film directed by Leos Carax, starring Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant. The title refers to the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, the North American title of the film is The Lovers on the Bridge, and, in a mistranslation of the original title, the Australian title is Lovers on the Ninth Bridge. Set around the Pont Neuf, Pariss oldest bridge, while it was closed for repairs, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf depicts a love story between two young vagrants Alex and Michèle. Alex is a street performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michèle a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship, the film portrays their harsh existence living on the bridge with Hans, an older vagrant. As her vision deteriorates Michèle becomes increasingly dependent on Alex, when a possible treatment becomes available, Michèles family use street posters and radio appeals to trace her. Fearing that she leave him if she receives the treatment. The streets, skies and waterways of Paris are used as a backdrop for the story in a series of set-pieces set during the French Bicentennial celebrations in 1989. Guitons documentary notes that from the outset Leos Carax wanted to make a film, originally talking about doing it with a small team, in black and white. His first movie Boy Meets Girl had been an affair, whereas Mauvais Sang had been considerably larger and more costly. From the start, basing a movie on a bridge in the centre of Paris was complicated. The production team wanted to block off the bridge for 3 months and this was immediately deemed impractical, and the creation of a model was proposed and created by the set designer Michel Vandestein. Initially the intention was to film the scenes on the actual bridge. At this point the budget of between 8 and 9 million francs had to be adjusted by 5 million, a search for locations across Europe ended up back in France - the town of Lansargues, in the department of Hérault in southern France. At this time the mayor of Paris gave the authorisation for filming in Paris on the Pont Neuf - between 28 July and 18 August. While tying his shoe on set, lead actor Denis Lavant injured the tendon in his thumb so badly that filming could not be completed in the given time, the insurers were called - Carax was pressured to recast the male lead. However the director insisted that he could not recast or change his approach to the film to allow for Lavants injury, immediately the solution was clear - the Lansargues model was to be extended for daytime use. At this point only a few minutes of footage had been shot, the producers secured a further 9 million to develop the set. This extra budget seemed too low given the extent of work required at the Lansargues site and it soon became obvious that more money would be required before shooting could resume
The Lovers on the Bridge
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Film Poster, ©
Gaumont 1991
The Lovers on the Bridge
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The film is set on the Pont Neuf in Paris
26.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
Netherlands
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The Netherlands in 5500 BC
Netherlands
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Flag
Netherlands
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The Netherlands in 500 BC
Netherlands
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An oak figurine found in
Willemstad, North Brabant (4500 BC).
27.
Johanna ter Steege
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Johanna ter Steege is a Dutch actress. She won the European Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her debut in The Vanishing. Among her other films are Robert Altmans Vincent & Theo, István Szabós Meeting Venus and Sweet Emma, Dear Böbe, Bernard Roses Immortal Beloved, in 1993, she was a member of the jury at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival and was awarded with the Berlinale Camera. In 1994, after Julia Roberts and Uma Thurman declined, Stanley Kubrick cast her for his adaptation of Louis Begleys novel Wartime Lies, Kubrick abandoned the project after Steven Spielbergs success with Schindlers List. The Vanishing Vincent & Theo Immortal Beloved Istanbul Achtste Groepers Huilen Niet To Life Historys Future Johanna ter Steege at the Internet Movie Database
Johanna ter Steege
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Johanna ter Steege
28.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
Germany
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The
Nebra sky disk is dated to c. 1600 BC.
Germany
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Flag
Germany
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Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the
Protestant Reformation.
Germany
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Foundation of the
German Empire in
Versailles, 1871.
Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform.
29.
Barbara Sukowa
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Barbara Sukowa is a German theatre and film actress. She is known for her work with directors Rainer Werner Fassbinder and she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for the 1986 film Rosa Luxemburg. Her other film appearances include Lola, Europa, M. Butterfly, sukowas stage debut was in Berlin in 1971, in a production of Peter Handkes Der Ritt über den Bodensee. Günter Beelitz invited her to join the ensemble of the Darmstädter National Theatre in the same year. She also worked in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, in collaboration with such as Luc Bondy and her roles included Marion in Büchners Dantons Death. Other Shakespeare roles in Europe were Rosalind in As You Like It and she performed in Ibsens The Master Builder. In English, she has worked in a production of The Cherry Orchard, in addition to her stage work, Sukowa is associated with the New German Cinema. She portrayed Mieze in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, which earned her the German best young actress award, in 1985 she appeared in the mini-series Space based on James A. Micheners novel. She received the best actress award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival for her work in Von Trottas film Rosa Luxemburg, Sukowa has developed a parallel career as a classical music narrator and speaker. She has performed the Speakers role in Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire, other performances have been with ensembles in Paris, London, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Rome, Tokyo, Salzburg, Los Angeles, and New York City. She narrated Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf both in concert and on record, as well as on a recording of Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and she has performed in Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera. She performed speaking and singing role in Reinbert de Leeuws Im wunderschönen Monat Mai in 2004. She performed the role in the US premiere of Michael Jarrells Cassandre in March 2006. In 2004 she was a member of the jury at the 26th Moscow International Film Festival, on 19 December 2011, it was announced she would be on the jury for the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, scheduled to be held in February 2012. In 2014, she starred as Jones in Syfys thriller series 12 Monkeys, Sukowa was born in Bremen, Germany. She is married to the artist and director Robert Longo, with whom she has performed as a singer and she has three sons, one from her earlier marriage to Hans-Michael Rehberg, one from her relationship with Daniel Olbrychski, and one from her marriage to Robert Longo
Barbara Sukowa
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Barbara Sukowa in February 2010
30.
Europa (film)
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Europa is a 1991 Danish art drama film directed by Lars von Trier. It is von Triers third theatrical film and the final film in his Europa trilogy following The Element of Crime. Europa was influenced by Franz Kafkas Amerika, and the title was chosen as an echo of that novel, a young, idealistic American hopes to show some kindness to the German people soon after the end of World War II. In US-occupied Germany, he takes on work as a car conductor for the Zentropa railway network, falls in love with a femme fatale. The voice-over narration uses an unconventional second-person narrative imitative of a hypnotist, the films characters, music, dialogue, and plot are self-consciously melodramatic and ironically imitative of film noir conventions. Europa was released as Zentropa in North America to avoid confusion with Europa Europa, the film received largely positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 85% score based on 13 reviews, the film won three awards at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Upon realizing that he had not won the Palme dOr, von Trier gave the judges the finger, the Criterion Collection released the film on DVD in 2008. The package contained several documentaries on the film and a commentary from von Trier. Europa at the Internet Movie Database Europa at the TCM Movie Database Europa at Box Office Mojo Europa at Rotten Tomatoes Criterion Collection Essay by Howard Hampton
Europa (film)
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DVD cover
Europa (film)
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Screenshot illustrating the film's use of black and white images mixed with colour, and of characters interacting with back projections
31.
Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
Romania
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Neacșu's letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in
Romanian.
Romania
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Flag
Romania
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Writ issued on 14 October 1465 by
Radu cel Frumos, from his residence in
Bucharest, indicating
Ottoman victory.
Romania
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A 1917 British map showing territories with majority Romanian populations.
32.
Maia Morgenstern
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Maia Emilia Ninel Morgenstern is a Romanian film and stage actress, described by Florin Mitu of AMOS News as a symbol of Romanian theater and film. In the English-speaking world, she is probably best known for the role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ. In Romania, she has been known since her 1992 role as Nela in Balanța. Born in Bucharest, in a Jewish family, she graduated from the Film and she then played at Teatrul Tineretului in Piatra Neamț until 1988, and at the Teatrul Evreiesc de Stat in Bucharest 1988-1990. At the same time, she was playing the role of Kathleen Hogan in a Romanian-language production of Israel Horovitzs Park Your Car in Harvard Yard at the State Jewish Theater. Morgenstern has appeared in films, primarily in Romanian language roles. In The Passion of the Christ, she performs a role in Aramaic and her surname, Morgenstern, means Morning Star in German, a title of the Virgin Mary, the character she played in The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson, a devout Traditionalist Catholic, thought this of great significance when casting her and she has been married twice, and has 3 children, Tudor Aaron, Eva Leea Cabiria and Ana Isadora. UNITER award for her performance in the production of Lola Blau
Maia Morgenstern
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Maia Morgenstern in November 2012
Maia Morgenstern
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Maia Morgenstern in concert, singing Jewish songs. Timișoara, Romania, May 25, 2010.
33.
Tilda Swinton
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Katherine Matilda Tilda Swinton is a British actress, performance artist, model, and fashion muse, known for her roles in independent and Hollywood films. She is the recipient of two BAFTA Awards, one BIFA Award, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and has received three nominations for a Golden Globe Award. She began her career in films directed by Derek Jarman, starting with Caravaggio, followed by The Last of England, War Requiem, Swinton won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance as Isabella of France in Edward II. She next starred in Sally Potters Orlando, and was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actress, Swinton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in The Deep End. She followed this with appearances in Vanilla Sky, Adaptation, Young Adam and she then starred in the crime drama Julia, I Am Love, and the psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin. Swinton later starred in the romantic fantasy drama, Only Lovers Left Alive. She is also known for her performances as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Swinton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as lawyer Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton. In 2005, Swinton was given the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards in recognition of her contributions to the British film industry, in 2013 she was given a special tribute by the Museum of Modern Art. Swinton was born in London, the daughter of Judith Balfour and her father is a retired major general in the British Army, and was Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1989 to 2000. Her paternal great-grandfather was a Scottish politician and herald, George Swinton, the Swinton family is an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the Middle Ages. The family is one of three families that can trace their unbroken land ownership and lineage to before the Norman Conquest. Swinton attended three independent schools, Queens Gate School in London, the West Heath Girls School and also Fettes College for a brief period, West Heath was an expensive boarding school where she was a classmate and friend of Princess Diana. Children need their parents and the parents can provide. Swinton went to volunteer in Kenya during a break from college with a charity called Project Trust. In 1983, Swinton graduated from New Hall at the University of Cambridge with a degree in Social and Political Sciences, while at Cambridge, she joined the Communist Party, she later joined the Scottish Socialist Party. It was in college that Swinton began performing on stage, Swinton joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984, appearing in Measure for Measure. She also worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, starring in Mann ist Mann by Manfred Karge in 1987, on television, she appeared as Julia in the 1986 mini-series Zastrozzi, A Romance based on the Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her first film was Caravaggio in 1986, directed by Derek Jarman, Swinton also played the title role in Orlando, Sally Potters film version of the novel by Virginia Woolf
Tilda Swinton
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Tilda Swinton at the 2013
Deauville Film Festival
Tilda Swinton
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Swinton at the 2009
Vienna International Film Festival
34.
Orlando (film)
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It was directed by Sally Potter. It was particularly acclaimed for its treatment of the settings of Woolfs 1928 novel. Potter chose to film much of the Constantinople portion of the book in the city of Khiva in Uzbekistan. The film premiered at the 49th Venice International Film Festival, in which it entered the main competition, Orlando was re-released for screening in select cinemas in August 2010. The film begins in the Elizabethan era shortly before the death of Queen Elizabeth I, both he and his heirs will keep the land and inheritance forever. Orlando acquiesces and resides in splendid isolation in the castle for a couple of centuries, during which time he dabbles in poetry and his attempts to befriend a celebrated poet, however, backfire when the poet ridicules his verse. Orlando then travels to Constantinople as English ambassador to the Turks, waking up the next morning, he learns something even more startling, he has physically transformed into a woman overnight. The editor who judges the work as good is, ironically. Having lived a most bizarre existence, Orlando finally finds a niche within it. The most immediate changes were structural, the storyline was simplified – any events which did not significantly further Orlandos story were dropped. The film contains two anachronisms not in the novel, on arrival in Constantinople c1700 England is referred to as a green and pleasant land, a quote from William Blakes Jerusalem, written post 1800. And Orlando receives a gift to celebrate the new century from Queen Anne, thus it is Queen Elizabeth who bestows the long life upon Orlando. The change of sex is a result of Orlando reaching a crisis of identity when he is unwilling to conform to what is expected of him as a man. Nor as a woman can Orlando conform, unlike the novel, the film ends with Orlando having a daughter, not a son. Nevertheless, in 1988 she began writing the script and raising money, Potter saw Tilda Swinton in the Manfred Karge play Man to Man and said that there was a profound subtlety about the way she took on male body language and handled maleness and femaleness. In Potters words, Quentin Crisp was the Queen of Queens, particularly in the context of Virginia Woolfs gender-bending politics and thus fit to play the aged Queen Elizabeth. Throughout Ms. Canby does caution that while the stands on its own. In contrast, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Orlando as hollow, smug. and self-satisfied and complains that any kind of emotional connection to match carefully constructed look
Orlando (film)
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Promotional poster
35.
Emily Watson
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Emily Margaret Watson, OBE is an English actress. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress as Janet Leach for the 2011 ITV television film biopic Appropriate Adult, Watson began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse, Watson was born in Islington, London. Her father, Richard Watson, was an architect and her mother, Katharine, was an English teacher at St Davids Girls School and she was brought up as an Anglican. Watson has described her childhood self as a Nice middle class English girl, id love to say I was a rebellious teenager but I wasnt. Watson was educated at St James Independent Schools, in west London and she attended the University of Bristol, where she obtained a BA. Following university, she trained at the Drama Studio London and she later received an MA from Bristol University. Watsons career began on the stage and her theatre credits include The Childrens Hour, Three Sisters, Much Ado About Nothing and The Lady from the Sea. Watson has also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in A Jovial Crew, The Taming of the Shrew, Alls Well That Ends Well and her performance was widely acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic and garnered her an Olivier Award nomination for Uncle Vanya. Watson was virtually unknown until director Lars von Trier chose her to star in his controversial Breaking the Waves after Helena Bonham Carter dropped out at the very last minute. She also played a role in Cradle Will Rock, a story of a theatre show in the 1930s. Though she won the role of Frank McCourts mother in the adaptation of his acclaimed memoir, Angelas Ashes. In 2001, she appeared alongside John Turturro in The Luzhin Defence, in 2004, Watson received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Peter Sellerss first wife, Anne Howe, in the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. 2005 saw Watson starring in four films, Wah-Wah, Richard E, in 2007, she appeared in The Water Horse, Legend of the Deep, an adaptation of the Dick King-Smith childrens novel about the origin of the Loch Ness Monster. Watson considers Ginzburg to be her best recent role, however, in 2011, she played Janet Leach in the ITV two-part film Appropriate Adult, about serial killer Fred West, for which she won a BAFTA. She also received rave reviews for her portrayal of Julie Nicholson in the BBC Drama A Song for Jenny, Watson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama. In 2017, she starred in the BBC mini-series Apple Tree Yard, in 2007, Mood Indigo, a script written by Watson and her husband, was optioned by Capitol Films. The film is a story set during the Second World War
Emily Watson
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Watson at the
British Academy Film Awards in London's
Royal Opera House, February 2007
36.
Breaking the Waves
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Breaking the Waves is a 1996 film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Emily Watson. The film is an international co-production led by Lars von Triers Danish company Zentropa and it is the first film in Triers Golden Heart Trilogy which also includes The Idiots and Dancer in the Dark. Breaking the Waves has been described as perhaps von Triers most widely acclaimed film, Bess McNeill is a pretty young Scottish woman with a history of psychological problems. She marries atheist oil rig worker Jan Nyman, despite disapproval from her community, Bess is steadfast and pure of heart, but extremely simple and childlike in her beliefs. During her frequent visits to the church, she prays to God and carries on conversations with Him using her own voice, Bess has difficulty living without Jan when he is away on the oil platform. Jan makes occasional phone calls to Bess in which they express their love, Bess grows needy and prays for his immediate return. The next day, Jan is severely injured in an accident and is flown back to the mainland. Bess believes her prayer was the reason the accident occurred, that God was punishing her for her selfishness in asking for him to neglect his job, no longer able to perform sexually and mentally affected by the paralysis, Jan asks Bess to find a lover. Bess is devastated and storms out, Jan then attempts to commit suicide and fails. He falls unconscious and is readmitted to hospital and he urges Bess to find another lover and tell him the details, as it will be as if they are together and will revitalize his spirits. Despite her repulsion and inner turmoil to be with other men, Bess throws herself at Jans doctor, but when he rebuffs her, she takes to picking up men off the street and allowing herself to be brutalized in increasingly cruel sexual encounters. The entire village is scandalized by these doings, and Bess is excommunicated, in the face of being cast out from her church, she proclaims, You cannot love words. You cannot be in love with the Word and you can only love a human being. Dodo and Jans doctor agree the way to keep Bess safe from herself is to have her committed. The church refuses to give a funeral for her and damns her soul to hell, unbeknownst to the church elders, Jan and his friends have substituted bags of sand for Besss body inside the sealed coffin. Jan is later shown burying her in the ocean, in deep grief, the film ends as church bells ring in the sky. Emily Watson as Bess McNeill Stellan Skarsgård as Jan Nyman Katrin Cartlidge as Dodo McNeill Jean-Marc Barr as Terry Adrian Rawlins as Dr, however the film breaks many of the movements rules, including built sets, post-dubbed music and computer graphics. He wanted to make a film that was also a religious film without any miracles
Breaking the Waves
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Theatrical release poster
37.
The English Patient (film)
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He questions the patient, who gradually reveals his past. The patient tells Hana and Caravaggio that, in the late 1930s and their expedition is joined by a British couple, Geoffrey and Katharine Clifton. Katharine and Almásy have an affair, which she abruptly ends, the explorers find and document the Cave of Swimmers and the surrounding area until they are stopped due to the onset of the war. Madox leaves his Tiger Moth plane at Kufra oasis before returning to England, while Almásy is packing up their base camp, Geoffrey, in attempted murder-suicide, deliberately crashes his plane, narrowly missing Almásy. Geoffrey is killed instantly, Katharine is seriously injured, Almásy carries her to the cave, leaving her with provisions, and begins a three-day walk to get help. At British-held El Tag he attempts to explain the situation, but is detained as a possible German spy and he escapes from the train and trades the Geographical Society maps to the Germans for gasoline. He finds Madoxs Tiger Moth and flies back to the cave, as he flies himself and Katharines body away, they are shot down by German anti-aircraft guns. Katharines body is not recovered, Almásy is badly burned but is rescued by a Bedouin, after he has related the story, Almásy asks Hana for a lethal dose of morphine, she complies and reads Katharines final journal entries to him as he dies. She and Caravaggio leave the monastery for Florence, saul Zaentz was interested in working with Anthony Minghella after he saw the directors film Truly, Madly, Deeply, Minghella brought this project to the producers attention. Michael Ondaatje, the Sri Lankan-born Canadian author of the novel, during the development of the project with 20th Century Fox, according to Minghella, the studio wanted the insurance policy of so-called bigger actors. Zaentz recalled, they’d look at you and say, ‘Could we cast Demi Moore in the role, not until Miramax Films took over was the directors preference for Scott Thomas accepted. The film was shot on location in Tunisia and Italy, with a production budget of $31 million. The Conversations, Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje is based on the conversations between the author and film editor, once he began, the possibilities became apparent, some of which took him away from the order of the original script. A reel without sound was made so scene change visuals would be consistent with the quality of the aural aspect between the two, the final cut features over 40 temporal transitions. It was during this time that Murch met Ondaatje and they were able to exchange thoughts about editing the film, two types of aircraft are used in the film, a De Havilland D. H.82 Tiger Moth and a Boeing-Stearman Model 75. The camp crash scene was made with a scale model. The film has a Certified Fresh rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 75 reviews, though it suffers from excessive length and ambition, director Minghellas adaptation of the Michael Ondaatje novel is complex, powerful, and moving. The film also has a rating of 87% on Metacritic, indicating universal acclaim, chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 rating, saying its the kind of movie you can see twice – first for the questions, the second time for the answers
The English Patient (film)
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Theatrical release poster
The English Patient (film)
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Triumph 3HW 350cc motorcycle specified in the novel as Kip's choice of transport and used in the film
38.
Career Girls
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Career Girls is a 1997 British dramatic comedy film written and directed by Mike Leigh which tells the story of two women, who reunite after six years apart. The film stars Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman, the women were originally thrown together when they shared a flat while at university and the film focuses on their interpersonal relationship. The film is not related to Louise Bagshawes 1995 novel of the same name, Hannah laments about her alcoholic mother and Annie tells about her mothers search for a new boyfriend. Annie, who lives with her mother, admires Hannahs independence. In contrast, Hannah laments being forced to be independent since she was a child, back in 1986, Hannah and Claire interview and accept Annie into their flat. Annie and Hannah discuss getting rid of Claire the next year, Hannah and Annie discuss how Hannah hasnt cried since she was eight when her parents split up. Annie, whose parents divorced when she was eight, says she cries all the time. The following year, Ricky Burton, a socially awkward stutterer, has moved in with Hannah. While discussing psychological traits with them in a pub, Rickys untactful probing angers Hannah, while Ricky visits the Chinese restaurant beneath the flat, Annie and Hannah discuss the argument and how Ricky fancies Annie. In another memory, Ricky drunkenly confesses his love for Annie, Ricky leaves, but he doesnt reappear, so Hannah and Annie visit his Nans home in Hartlepool. His Nan tells them that Ricky has gone out, possibly along the sea front, in present day, Annie accompanies Hannah as she looks for a flat to buy. One flat is owned by a Mr. Evans, whose flat contains a painting of his naked ex-girlfriend, Evans hits on Hannah and offers both women alcohol. They run out of the flat making excuses and are still laughing as they drive off, Adrian Spinks, a real estate agent, meets them at the next flat. Annie recognises him as an old boyfriend, but Adrian says he doesnt recognise them. In between their conversations, flashbacks show Hannah and Annies history with Adrian, after meeting at a club, Hannah takes Adrian home and sleeps with him. The following morning, he walks into Annies room and tries to chat her up, in other flashbacks, Annie tells Adrian about a recurring sexual fantasy. Later, they kiss and discuss why he split up with his ex-girlfriend, Adrian says he didnt want the commitment, and leaves when Annie asks why. In the present, Hannah and Annie learn that Adrian is married with a child, at a restaurant, Annie and Hannah discuss how they have changed since university and wonder what happened to Ricky
Career Girls
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Promotional poster for Career Girls
39.
Emma Thompson
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Emma Thompson is a British actress, activist, author, comedienne and screenwriter. Born in London to English actor Eric Thompson and Scottish actress Phyllida Law, Thompson was educated at Newnham College, University of Cambridge, where she became a member of the Footlights troupe. Her first film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy, and in the early 1990s she frequently collaborated with her then husband, the pair became popular in the British media and co-starred in several films, including Dead Again and Much Ado About Nothing. In 1992, Thompson won an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress for the period drama Howards End. In 1993, she garnered dual Academy Award nominations for her roles in The Remains of the Day as the housekeeper of a grand household and In the Name of the Father as a lawyer. Thompson scripted and starred in Sense and Sensibility, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, in 2013, she received acclaim and several award nominations for her portrayal of P. L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. Thompson is married to actor Greg Wise, with whom she lives in London and they have one daughter and an adopted son. She is an activist in the areas of rights and environmentalism and has received criticism for her outspokenness. She has written two books adapted from The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Thompson was born in Paddington, London, on 15 April 1959. Her godfather was the director and writer Ronald Eyre and she has one sister, Sophie Thompson, who also works as an actress. The family lived in West Hampstead in north London, and Thompson was educated at Camden School for Girls and she spent much time in Scotland during her childhood and often visited Ardentinny, where her grandparents and uncle lived. In her youth, Thompson was intrigued by language and literature, a trait which she attributes to her father, in 1977, she began studying for an English degree at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Thompson believes that it was inevitable that she would become an actress, commenting that she was surrounded by people and I don’t think it would ever have gone any other way. While there, she had a moment that turned her to feminism. She became a punk rocker, with short red hair and a motorbike. At Cambridge, Thompson was invited into Footlights, the universitys sketch comedy troupe, by its president, Martin Bergman. Also in the troupe were fellow actors Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Fry recalled that there was no doubt that Emma was going the distance. Our nickname for her was Emma Talented, in 1980, Thompson served as the Vice President of Footlights, and co-directed the troupes first all-female revue, Womans Hour
Emma Thompson
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Thompson in September 2014 at a London climate march
Emma Thompson
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Newnham College,
University of Cambridge, where Thompson began performing
Emma Thompson
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Actor–director
Kenneth Branagh, Thompson's first husband, whom she worked with in several stage and screen productions between 1987 and 1993
Emma Thompson
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Anthony Hopkins starred with Thompson in
Howards End (1992) and
The Remains of the Day (1993)
40.
The Winter Guest
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The Winter Guest is a 1997 film directed by Alan Rickman in his debut as a director, which stars Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson. The film consists primarily of the interactions between the characters, the film is based on Sharman MacDonalds play, premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse before transferring to the Almeida Theatre in London. Like the film it was directed by Rickman, starring Law, Reid, Voe and John Wark, with Siân Thomas in the role of Frances. The film was met warmly by critics, with Thompson winning an award at the Venice Film Festival, but it was Robin Dons remarkable set. That grabs you before anything else, an interior, promenade and snowbound seascape. Won, OCIC Award Won, Pasinetti Award – Best Actress Nominated, Golden Lion The Winter Guest at the Internet Movie Database The Winter Guest at Rotten Tomatoes
The Winter Guest
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Theatrical release poster
41.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
Belgium
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Charlemagne and
Charles V
Belgium
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Flaga
Belgium
Belgium
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Episode of the
Belgian Revolution of 1830 (1834), by
Egide Charles Gustave Wappers
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Natacha Regnier
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Natacha Régnier is a Belgian actress. Born in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels, she was attracted to theatre from early adolescence and her first screen role was in The Motorcycle Girl, a short film by Stéphan Carpiaux. After that, she played a number of roles for French television, in 1998 Régnier and Élodie Bouchez received the Prix dinterprétation féminine at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for their roles in La vie rêvée des anges by Erick Zonca. She has stated that her idol is film actress Sandrine Bonnaire, natacha Régnier was married to French musician Yann Tiersen, but they are now divorced. She received a Magritte Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Régnier has just finished the film Une journée, which is now in post-production
Natacha Regnier
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Natacha Régnier
43.
The Dreamlife of Angels
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The Dreamlife of Angels is a 1998 French drama film directed by Erick Zonca. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards, the film is about two working class women, Isa and Marie. Isa is a drifter and searching for a lover she had met during the summer, when she realizes that her search for him is futile and turns elsewhere, she meets Marie, who lives in a small French town near Lille. Marie lives in an apartment that she is looking after because the owners had a car accident in which everyone died, except for Sandrine, a teenager, Marie invites Isa to live with her. Shortly thereafter Isa and Marie meet up with two bouncers, Fredo and Charly, whom they befriend, the men help them out and they have genuine fun together, although they are not much better off than the women. Isa is tougher in that she can take the beating and stick with what is around her, and does not get carried away by the false possibility of a better life. Significantly, Isa refuses to sleep with her casual boyfriend Fredo, drawing her strength from within, while Marie is emotionally dependent on Chriss, Isa is well aware of Chrisss true intentions and tries to warn Marie, who refuses to listen. Isa finds Sandrines diary and reads it to her visits in the hospital. Meanwhile, Chriss decides to end his fling with Marie, instead of breaking up with her in person, he asks Isa to tell her for him, clearly afraid Marie would self-destruct in front of him, then leaving Maries later calls unreturned. Meanwhile, Sandrine comes out of her coma, but Isa, after finally learning about Chriss decision to end the relationship, Marie jumps out of a window. The film ends with Isa starting to work in a new factory, eelco Wijdicks on the depiction of comas in movies was published in Neurology in May 2006
The Dreamlife of Angels
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The Dreamlife of Angels
Carmen Maura
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir
Ornella Muti
Carol Scanlan
Ruth Sheen
Sabine Azéma
Snežana Bogdanović
Corinna Harfouch
Natalya Negoda
Sandra Hüller
Émilie Dequenne
Sibel Kekilli
